Cold Steel
Cold Steel was a factory, warehouse and underground bunker complex owned by Aesir Corporation from 1995 until 2001. Characteristics Foundry The plant maintained a front as a steel foundry, and aside from the production line which moved automatically, no plant workers were seen supervising the mill and its equipment (at least not during the 2001 winter night of its infiltration and destruction); despite the absence of any steel mill workers in 2001, many heavily-armed mercenary commandos and explosive traps protected the complex. The main area of the complex consisted of a steel mill and one or more warehouses, and the warehouses and loading areas are largely connected to the main factory building, which was several stories high and contained a network of passages that allowed foundry personnel access to most of the facility. Inside the steel mill were loading areas, storage areas for raw and refined materials, and a full production line for casting, cooling then treating steel, which included large molten furnaces and casters. The passageways that ran throughout the mill connected to many employee break rooms, security offices, and the different areas of the steel production line. The personnel passages ranged from catwalks over the massive pools of molten steel and storages areas to underground access tunnels that went underneath the mill in order to provide additional access routes past the considerably more dangerous portions of the foundry. Project Valhalla bunker There was an elevator marked "D-6" located somewhere in the central part of the mill that led down to a secret bunker. From the elevator, there was a central security control station that contained several computer terminals, as well as three computer-controlled access doors that led to the processing areas, test facilities, a storage area, and the bunker's laboratories. Large batches of Valkyr were mixed and produced in enormous, enclosed vats within the processing areas of the bunker, where chemists monitored the drug's production and prepared it for distribution. In the test facilities of the underground bunker was where Valkyr test subjects were experimented on and then imprisoned in cells. The laboratories were only accessible after passing through a decontamination chamber airlock, and past the decontamination chamber, the facility's laboratories and storage area could have been reached. Both labs contained highly sophisticated scientific equipment and computer terminals at the time, which were used to research, produce and improve the Valkyr formula. Events In 2001, after he survived a forced Valkyr overdose following his assault of the Punchinello Manor, Max Payne broke into the Cold Steel foundry via a skylight in search of Nicole Horne. Payne killed several groups of mercenaries and avoided explosive traps as he moved through the foundry until he heard a radio broadcast of the mercenaries' communications channel in an employee break room. When he listened to the mercenaries' communication, he heard one of them exclaim that "Deep Six" had been "compromised, and an order to commence on "Operation: Dead Eyes." After Max overheard that 'Operation: Dead Eyes' had been initiated, he decided to go deeper into the complex. As he investigated the foundry further, Max then found a security room with monitors that surveilled the entire complex and, after he noticed an elevator marked 'D-6', he decided to find and use the elevator to go deep into the core of Cold Steel, as he had hoped to learn more about it and its guarded secrets. Payne pushed on as he maneuvered past more laser traps, mercenaries and many broken gas pipes that shot out flames until he finally reached the elevator designated 'D-6'. After riding in the elevator, Max found himself in a secret lab complex, and once he arrived in the underground bunker he witnessed two Killer Suits execute a mercenary, as 'Operation: Dead Eyes' was the apparent destruction of the lab facilities, which included the facility personnel and its guards. Max took them out and noticed the insignia on the floor, and he realized that he was in a U.S. Army bunker and that the facility probably was where Valkyr was created and continued to be produced. While he explored the underground facility, Max discovered computer files which revealed that his family was killed because his wife had accidentally found out about Project Valhalla, which prompted Nicole Horne to give three Valkyr test subjects double their usual dose of "V" and then be dropped off at the Payne Residence with guns under the guise of collecting data on how the test subjects behaved in an urban setting, in order to kill Michelle Payne and her family. After he had finally learned the truth and realized that Horne was no longer present in the steel mill or bunker, Max Payne made his escape as the entire complex self-destructed. Weapons Located *Desert Eagle *Beretta *Pump-Action Shotgun *Colt Commando *Ingram *M79 Grenade Launcher *Grenade *Molotov Cocktail *Sniper rifle Trivia *Outside of the break room at the end of the chapter, Take Me to Cold Steel, two mercenaries can be heard talking about how the other members of their faction name their guns, before one awkwardly admits that he named his gun "Dick Justice." Dick Justice is one of the names that Remedy and 3D Realms had selected for the protagonist of the game they were working on before finally deciding on Max Payne. The name is used again in Max Payne 2 as the main character's name on a TV show about a detective taking revenge on those who killed his wife, which parallels the events of the first Max Payne. Appearances *''Max Payne'' **Part III: A Bit Closer to Heaven ***Take Me to Cold Steel ***Hidden Truths ***The Deep Six Gallery MaxPayne 2011-05-06 21-20-04-59.JPG|Cold Steel exterior Cold_steel_production_diagram.png|Steel production diagram Pool_molten_steel.png|A pool of molten steel MaxPayne 2011-05-06 22-22-01-20.JPG|Elevator D-6 Valkyr_vat.png|One of the vats that are used to produce Valkyr MaxPayne 2011-05-06 23-10-59-12.JPG|An imprisoned Valkyr chemist is freed by Max es:Frío Acero Category:Locations Category:Max Payne 1 locations Category:Max Payne 1